FED:Cattle export ban overturn welcomed

Nationals leader
Warren Truss
has welcomed the lifting of a ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia but says the industry will still face hardship.

Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig announced the ban would be lifted on Wednesday night. Exports were shut down on June 7 after a damaging ABC Four Corners report showing inhumane slaughtering in Indonesian abattoirs.

Mr Truss said it would be a challenge for the industry to assemble all the necessary networks to muster cattle and resume exporting.

"There's been pain and hardship," he told Sky News.

The government's decision to resume exports was welcome but the new requirements there would mean lower returns for producers, Mr Truss said.

"It doesn't mean full resumption of the trade," he said.

The new standards, including improved tracking and supply chain transparency, were appropriate but would be costly, the Nationals leader warned.

A small portion of the traditional trade would be exported to abattoirs who would meet the new requirements.

The NSW MP said he had maintained pressure on the government both privately and publicly to resume the trade in what had been an incredibly stressful time for the cattle industry and the people who depended on it.

“However, starting the trade up again before animal welfare concerns have been properly addressed would have greatly strengthened the case of those who would seek to end live animal exports altogether," Mr Windsor said.

“That would have done the industry much greater damage in the long term."

Industry leaders had confronted the issue head on and worked with the government to find a resolution that all Australians should be happy with, Mr Windsor said.

On Tuesday the Coalition pushed for an immediate resumption of live cattle exports as a matter of public importance in parliament on the grounds it was devastating entire communities.